Amazon shows off Kindle Fire HD with 4G LTE for $499, WiFi for $299

For $50 per year, customers get 250MB of data per month on the 4G LTE version.

Amazon unveiled the successors to its Kindle Fire at a press event today in Santa Monica. The 7-inch version will have twice the RAM of its predecessor, "40 percent faster performance" with a new processor, and longer battery life. The new 8.9-inch version has a 1920x1200 display at 254 pixels per inch and will be available with a 4G LTE option for a significant extra cost.

The 8.9-inch Fire HD measures 8.8 millimeters thick, weighs 20 ounces, and has a laminated display intended to reduce glare from external light by 25 percent. Inside is a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 OMAP4470 processor, dual Dolby Digital stereo speakers, a dual-band WiFi chip, and two antennas for WiFi reception. Amazon claims the Fire's WiFi is 54 percent faster than on the Nexus 7, and 41 percent faster than on the iPad 3.

The 7-inch Fire HD has a 1.2GHz dual-core OMAP 4460 processor and 1280x800 HD display, while the non-HD version has a 1.2GHz OMAP 4430 dual-core processor and 1024x600 resolution.

All Fire models except the non-HD 7-inch Fire will include front-facing cameras, a feature that was entirely lacking in the original Fire. HDMI out and Bluetooth have also been added. Amazon has not yet provided battery estimates for the 8.9-inch Fires, but the new 7-inch HD model is quoted at 11 hours of continuous use.

Amazon saw fit to bestow the WiFi-only Fire HDs with 16GB of storage, more than the pitiful 8GB found on the original Kindle Fire. The bump is crucial for a device meant to display HD content, though 16GB isn't exactly roomy--a 32GB option will also be available. The 8.9-inch 4G LTE version of the Fire HD will have 32GB of storage (more information available in the story on that device) with a 64GB option.

The Kindle Fire OS and content system have received some tweaks as well. A new feature called X-Ray gives users a new layer of interaction with content; for example, tapping on an actor's face while a movie is playing pulls up their IMDb page, or tapping a term in a textbook highlights all the locations it's mentioned and offers relevant YouTube and Wikipedia pages. The Fires will have access to 100,000 audiobooks, courtesy of Audible. The audiobooks are equipped with Whispersync, so that users no longer have to manually locate their place in the audio or text version when switching back and forth.

Amazon has retooled the e-mail application to include Exchange support and calendar and contact sync. The OS will also include custom versions of Facebook and Skype apps, as well as controls called "Kindle FreeTime" that allow parents to set time limits on certain activities for kids (reading or movie-watching, for example). The Fires will retain the carousel we saw on the original Fire as the primary navigation hub.

The new Kindle Fires follow in the footsteps of the Kindle Fire Amazon launched in November 2011, which sold millions over the holiday season and constituted 22 percent of tablet sales in the US but was discontinued in August.

The new 7-inch Fire will be priced at $159 for a non-HD version and $199 for an HD version, and will likely go toe-to-toe with Google's $199 Nexus 7, which rocked the 7-inch tablet segment in July. The 8.9-inch Fire HD is priced at $299 for a WiFi only version, and $499 for a 4G LTE version. The only available data plan for the Fire HD 4G LTE is priced at $49.99 a year, and includes 250MB a month, 200GB of cloud storage, and a $10 Amazon credit. According to Amazon's product page for the 8.9-inch Fire, there will be 3GB and 5GB data plan options, but no pricing information for them has been released. According to TechCrunch, the Fire devices will be available this round for the first time in the UK and France.

Addressing the prices, Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, said, "We want to make money when our customers use our devices, not when they buy our devices." The 7-inch versions ship on September 14, but those looking for a bigger screen will have to wait until November 20 to get their hands on the 8.9-inch Fire HD. Online orders are open on all models.

Amazon's event has recently finished, but we will update this article if more details become available through the company.

Casey Johnston
Casey Johnston is the former Culture Editor at Ars Technica, and now does the occasional freelance story. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Applied Physics. Twitter@caseyjohnston